captures the spirit of Motorcycle Week
in this image from our photography book.
(See below for purchasing details.)
They’re like the Greek gods.Every culture has them. Characters, symbols really, who somehow stand head-and-shoulders above the other “ordinary” people.
But who, at the same time, are recognizable to all of us. They’re one of us – heroic, but with what the Greek dramatists called their “fatal flaw.” Something in their character seems to doom them, even as they speed past us.
America has its cowboys. That’s the archetype, but there are numerous models. The hardboiled detective. The rock’n’roller. The poetry-reading beatnik. The solitary war hero. The quiet but accomplished athlete. The superhero/avenger.
They always follow the Cowboy Code: Look truth strait in the eye. Don’t be phased by critics. Don’t be afraid of being wrong when you’re standing up for what’s right – especially when it comes to defending the weak and the vulnerable.
Don’t expect much from others.
That’s the world of the motorcycle rider, be it real or imagined, when he’s zooming by on his “potato”-chugging Harley.
It’s part myth, part reality. Part hero, part anti-hero. Part the most trustworthy friend you’ll ever find. And part the renegade outsider you don’t turn your back on.
Read about the early motorcyclists who started coming to Laconia in the 1920s. In those days riding was considered as “foolhardy” – as dangerous – as skydiving. Riders had to be as much mechanics as drivers. The machinery was wildly unpredictable. Breakdowns – even minor explosions – were an expected part of the routine. Everyone knew how to fix their own bikes. The people who rode those bikes were daredevils, like aviators or people who tried to get to the North Pole.
They were heroic but considered a little loony by most people.
It was the World Wars in Europe and Africa that changed all that. The U.S. military found uses for motorcycles no one could have imagined. Bikes could do things and get places better than any other means of transportation in a war-torn terrain.
The select few who got to ride those early Harleys and other brands fell in love with the adventure.
After World War II, when most soldiers returned to “normal” life here in America, there were a band of brothers, mostly on the west coast, who kept the tradition alive.
They collected parts and put motorcycles together. Then they raced them wherever they could find a place. They rode on mountain paths and in the desert. They shared their parts and their knowledge with one another.
They somehow kept the biker’s dream world alive.
A few of them – like the occasional cowboy, even today – took the code past its natural limits. Hurting others became a way of expressing “independence.” Thrills went past just breaking speeding or riding rules. Men who were meant to be heroes became losers. And as a result, all riders lost a bit of their luster.
But over the years, it’s come back. Bikers ride in huge POW-MIA parades, including one in Meredith. They stand with military veterans in all kinds of difficulties. They raise money for charitable causes. They fly American flags and are patriots.
Every year thousands of them come here, from across the country and the world. The Laconia Motorcycle Rally is the oldest one in the country. For one week at the end of the spring, on the cusp of summer, they roam the streets, fill the restaurants and roar down the roads.
On Lakeside Avenue in Weirs Beach they show themselves in an incongruous parade of loners gathered together. Their tattoos, decals and clothing declare what they cannot say. Their motors rumble as their lives streak by.
Enjoy them, these cowboys on their “iron horses.” There will be a day when they will ride off into the sunset. When someone else – some other, newer breed of cowboy – takes their place.
They will be missed.
And their like will never be seen around these parts again.
This story first appeared in “The Lakes Region of New Hampshire: Four Seasons, Countless Memories,” the first full-color book of photographs and essays about the area published by Carbone Productions. The book is available at local bookstores or ordering information is available at LakesRegionNHBook.com
